Constantly wants feeding - is it normal and how long willl it last

[Turno1]

My beautiful baby boy is 6 days old today. Follloowing csection birth he latched for feeding immediately. Midwives and bf support were pleased with everything. ON coming home he then wanted feeding constantly, do a good 40 min feed and fall asleep, as soon as we moved him to put him down he would scream for feed. Day time is worse and on a night we would get a good 3hrs sleep in his crib between feeds. Until last night from 3am he would not settle and just kept cuing for feed constantly. At day 3 my nipples were so sore I was ready to give up. I was also worried that he was not getting the milk he needed f rom me. My support worker said he was fine, he was not losing weight in fact was only loss of 2% of birth weight when normally is up to 10%. And he's doing plenty of nappies. She said it was probably soothing suckling and we had to try and find other ways to soothe. If he has had a good 40min feed, he won't need a feed again straight away. So we tried everything the full list of things to help soothe, nothing will work and the one thing that does work is asleep on me so I still could not do the me sleep when baby sleeps. It feels like the only way to calm and soothe him is by giving gum to breast on demand for 5 min suckle and then he sleeps. Is this normal, will it cycle out? Am I doing the right thing? Like any mum you worry that everything is ok with your little one especially when they won't stop crying or it seems won't stop feeding. Recovering from csection doesn't make things easy either. The only thing we have noticed st day 6 is his stools are light green/brown and not the full mustard brown it shows on pictures it should be at day 4-5.

[PhilODox]

Have you had him checked for tongue tie? My DC2 had it, and fed non-stop for first few days. Thankfully I had already successfully fed DC1, so I knew something wasn't right, and mentioned it to bf counsellor. They snipped the Tue at 7 days, and feeding reverted to normal.
Congratulations on your son!

[Neverknowing]

My DD did exactly this! I fed her constantly. She was either asleep or feeding. It was hard but eventually it stops.
I'm so glad I continued with my DD, she's now almost 9months old and only feeds a few times a day but I love it ! I struggled to imagine feeding until a year with her but now I struggle to imagine stopping it got better around the 6 week mark for me. But got even better than hat around the 3 month mark. I think my baby has been a calmer baby for BF, she never ever cries and if she does I put her on the boob (everytime) it made my life easier and her life stress free! I think it's definitely worth sticking it out if you can, good luck i know it's hard!

[BertieBotts]

IME it is normal for them to want to feed a lot in the early days, it's also normal for them to only want to sleep on you! Advice to find other ways to soothe is a bit premature I think. It's okay to move to other ways of soothing later, but he is so little right now that it's best to keep going with what works. Otherwise it's a bit like saying "Well, he's had 40 minutes of cuddles, that's enough, he can't need any more" - ??? - I don't think anybody can ever have too many cuddles, especially a baby.

The breast/nipple soreness will improve, can you get some nipple cream? Lansinoh or Kamillosan are the best ones. If you ask your midwife, she might even have a sample for you to try. One thing to be aware of at this stage is that it should only be painful initially as baby first takes the breast, count to 10, if it's still hurting beyond this then break their latch by sticking your little finger in and try to get a deeper one.

It's good that your baby is maintaining his birth weight :)

[MoHunter]

Is this normal?
Yes, at that age I'd say it is. It's very early days but you're doing great, baby is obviously thriving with his weight!
Could you feed him lying down on the bed so you can have a rest? x Make sure no pillows/duvet by baby and no risk of falling down the bed.
If the soreness doesn't improve (I second using lansinoh after and between feeds) I'd also have his latch checked.

[Turno1]

Thks for the advice. He was checked for tongue tie in hospital so this is ok. The latch does only hurt at the start making my toes curl and then it does wear off once he gets going. I'm using the Lans cream and try and let air get to them too. It's good to hear the reassurance that this is normal. I do love it as he wants me and it's lovely to have this close bonding time..

[Blink1982]

I'm having the same issues at 4 days. Starting to lose my mind. When I do feed him he'll just sick it baçk again and want more. So done.

[Turno1]

he has done his brown/mustard nappy fill tonight, so my mind put to rest that he is definitely getting the milk he needs. Actually gone 4 hours sleep before this last feed now, and managed to get some much needed rest. I am his human pacifier

[BertieBotts]

Ahh lovely, well done :)